Eric Lach

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Eric Lach is a reporter for TPM. From 2010 to 2011, he was a news writer in charge of the website?s front page. He has previously written for The Daily, NewYorker.com, GlobalPost and other publications. He can be reached at ericl@talkingpointsmemo.com

Dealt a loss by Target on Wednesday, gun rights activists were trying to find a consolation prize. The retail chain's newly announced policy asking customers to keep guns out of its stores is not a gun "ban," the activists said. It was a respectful "request."

A "misunderstanding" between two armed men in a Georgia convenience store led to an arrest on the very day that the state's new expansive gun rights law went into effect, according to The Valdosta Daily Times.

A 22-year-old Indiana man is facing both state and federal charges after allegedly posting a rambling message on Facebook in which he claimed ties to Las Vegas cop killers Jerad and Amanda Miller, made death threats against state judges and law enforcement officers, and warned that a local courthouse would be "blown to pieces within the month" -- before claiming that it had all been written as satire.

In federal charges unsealed Monday, Samuel Bradbury, of Pine Village, Ind., was accused of using interstate communications to make threats and willfully threatening to use explosives. That's in addition to four Class C felony intimidation charges Bradbury faces in state court. Bradbury could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the federal charges alone.

A Texas Target store is once again at the center of a gun rights fight.

The gun control group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, which is backed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said Monday that its Texas chapter was told on Sunday to leave the parking lot outside a Target store in San Antonio, where it had been holding a "Stoller Jam" demonstration.

The reviews are in. Or the review, anyway. And Dinesh D'Souza's new film, "America: Imagine a World Without Her," has been proclaimed "the perfect film to take the family to on a Fourth of July," according to National Review.

On Tuesday, Timothy Ray Murray (pictured) challenged longtime incumbent Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) for the Republican nomination in Oklahoma's 3rd Congressional district. Murray lost, but he did manage to pull in 3,442 votes, good for 5.2 percent of the total. Now Murray says he will contest the outcome of the election. Because, he says, Lucas is dead and has been replaced by a "look alike."

A Wisconsin state prosecutor is trying to throw cold water on recently unsealed court documents that said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) was part of a "criminal scheme." The unusual step came in the form of a statement released Thursday by a lawyer representing special prosecutor Francis Schmitz.